Once upon a stage called Delhi | The Indian Express

Once upon a stage called Delhi | The Indian Express

Written by Krishna Kumar |Published: July 10, 2019 1:02:20 am

The writer, professor of education at University of Delhi, was director of  NCERT from 2004 to 2010

Once upon a stage called Delhi

In the 1970s, theatre in the city helped define a wider political imagination. Now, the young must accomplish that task without the aid of the likes of Girish Karnad and Habib Tanvir.

The National School of Drama, Triveni, and Kamani routinely offered the very best in contemporary drama. (Illustration by Suvajit Dey)

Till the mid-1970s, New Delhi felt quite different from how it feels now. This feeling is not necessarily a reflection of the pleasure that old, familiar images are known to give. Many things have changed, but some have changed more radically than others. No one can imagine how active and endearing theatre in Delhi was in the early 1970s. The roundabout near Bengali Market and the buildings around it are still there, but the life inside them is altogether different now. The National School of Drama, Triveni, and Kamani routinely offered the very best in contemporary drama.